Cold is food's best friend. It slows (refrigerated) or stops (frozen) the biological actions that will destroy the food you have worked so hard to hunt and gather (enzymes that naturally break down the food and microbial and fungal invasions). Constant cold is a recent invention though and there are other ways to preserve your food (and add flavor) that our ancestors used that are all but lost in the modern kitchen. The goal is to make the food inhospitable to microorganisms that we share our world with that will destroy what you prize.
What do these wee little buggers need to thrive? Oxygen, moisture and an environment conducive to growth. We can destroy this growth friendly environment in many ways.
Dehydration: fruits and meats. Using low heat and a lot of air we can rapidly remove most of the moisture from these products making it harder for bacteria & molds to thrive. We can also pre-season to add huge amounts of flavor. Jerky and dried fruits and veggies are in this category. You can buy a dehydrator or use your oven but beware of methods that use heat as they congeal the protiens and actually lock water in the subject food. So forced air is the best. The cheapest way to accomplish this is to use paper furnace filters (NEVER use the fiberglass) and a big box fan. The box fan will run you about 20-30$ and the filters are dirt cheap at any hardware or grocery store. You can stack them 5-6 high on the box fan and the corrugations are begging to hold some food. The fan will force air over all the food in a standard manner and in 24-48 hours all of it will be bone dry. If you do want to dry meat you must also cure it (we'll talk about that later). Store in an airtight container and enjoy until it is done.
Pickling: Adding salt and acid to the point that microbes just cannot live there. Ever hear of ceviche? It is soaking proteins in a marinade that is acidic and congeals the proteins and 'cooks' the food (it's NOT cooked but the proteins are mangled in the same manner). In addition the acid will also PICKLE the meat (don't be afraid it's yummy). Fruits and veggies of any type can also be treated in a similar manner. Since your acid is in liquid form (primarily citrus juice and vinegars) and you are adding salt you can also piggyback any other flavor you want from sugar to to heat to anything in your spice rack. Unless you want to get into canning (another topic for later) you can store these cold (keep refrigerated) pickles in an airtight container in your fridge for weeks longer than they could survive in their pre-pickled state.
Curing: Adding salt and (maybe) removing moisture: Gravlocks, salmon and jerky are prime examples of this method. A dry cure is sugar and/or salt and herbs and spices while a wet cure is a salt/sugary mixture with other flavors that needs to be combined with a dehydration method or smoking (more on this later *again*). A basic cure is one I like to use for salmon. One part sugar and one part salt mixed well and piled high over and under a piece of fish and left to cure for 24-48 hours in the refrigerator. This process will pull moisture from the fish as well as add enough salt to prevent bacteria and mold growth for quite some time. Wet cures need to combined with other methods such as canning or smoking (next post) to drive out moisture and/or add other preservatives.
I've used all of these methods through the years to provide yummies for the family and I will share with you one of my favorites.... Beef Jerky.
Ingredients
London Broil (usually a flank steak or flat roast from the round (upper half leg of the cow) try for top round if your LB is from the round.
Worcestershire sauce a cup or more and an equal amount of Soy sauce (regular not Lite as we need the salt here).
One gallon size ziplock bag.
Cut the beef against the grain into strips that are 1/4 inch wide put all the slices in the bag.
add 1 cup of Worcestershire sauce and 1 cup of soy sauce. If the meat is not covered at this point add more of both in 1/4 cup amounts until it is covered.
Add additional flavors such as chopped herbs, hot peppers & dry seasonings of your desire to the bag squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the bag (you can use any container but with a ziplock it is easier to ensure that all the meat is surrounded by the cure without having to make an excess of cure $$ saver). You want to put this in the refrigerator in a safe place (in a container of some sort in case of leakage) for 24-48 hours. After your curing remove the beef from the bag and pat dry and then air dry until there is no surface moisture. Lay the dry to the touch meat on the furnace filters in a single layer stacking up to 4- 5 filters deep covering with a final filter. Set filters on a large box fan and secure with twine or bungee cords. Turn the fan on (you can do this on your deck/patio if you don't want your house to smell like beef which I just don't mind). After 24 hours take a representative piece and check for doneness it should be bendy but not floppy and when cut should have no discernible moisture in the center if not done check in another 8-24 hours. Packed in an airtight container you can enjoy this treat for months if you don't devour it sooner.
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